NORAH PIERSON
Some of the jewelry is fairly simple, some outrageously ornate.
It draws on everything from ancient Rome to "Lost in Space".
It is the work of Norah Pierson, who makes her magical jewelry in a cliff
top studio she designed outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. There is a delightful
sense of humor in Norah's work, but never at at the expense of beauty.
It's the result of her years in Italy, and on the California coast, and
hours spent hiking in the mountians and deserts of New Mexico.
Raised in New England by her sculptress / painter mother and
historian father, Norah spent her childhood in museums, studied at the
Bostom Museum of Fine Arts and later apprenticed with goldsmith Joseph
Nolen of Laguna Beach, CA. Most of her forms are cast from wax, a medium
that allows her to play with surface textures. Look closely at her work
and you'll find the textures of fish scales, sea urchins, a broken tail
light, bones and wood. "I believe in tactility," she says, "I
love the curves and swirls of nouveau and the geometry of art deco."
Her imaginitive forms and varied textures are cast or fabricated
in high karat gold and set with the finest pearls and colored stones from
around the world, often custom cut to Norah's specifications. The result
is sometimes Byzantine, sometimes space age, but always luxurious and
always essentially Norah.
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JULIE RAUSCHENBERGER
Clearly playing both sides against the middle. Julie Rauschenberger
consciously faces the challenges of bridging old and new. Her work often includes
cast shapes as a body for granulation, unlike most of her peers, who fabricate
from sheet and wire. A study in opposites, her style often includes such contrasting
materials as 22K gold and diamonds with fossilized mastodon bone or 22K gold
with opals and fossilized walrus tusk.
When stoking her creative fires, Rauschenberger looks at ancient
Native American work (particularly from the Mimbres, who lived in what is
today New Mexico ) as well as a variety of craft art ( handmade paper, glass,
pottery - anything, that is, but jewelry ).
Then there is her subconscious: "Without at all being aware of it,
I have always moved towards triangular shapes," she says. These are
softened until they recall flower petals more than geometrics. Working
with 22K gold demands that she use high quality stones. But since clients
find comfort in the familiar, she has to keep a check on her love for
"the funkier, the better" gemstones. As a result, she often
uses boulder opals, rubies and not-too-unusual tourmalines, and finds
in them the perfect balance between her passion and the acceptance among
her patrons.
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LIZA GENE SANCHEZ
" Although I was born and raised in northern
Illinois, it was the mountians of New Mexico where I finally found my home.
The unique landscapes and special auraof the region give me inspiration
and serenity.
I have always been intrigued by natural forms and textures, especially close-up.
Flowers, pods, even rocks facinate me. My cholla-wood designs were inspired
by the spikey shrub-like cholla cactus that grows abundantly in our high
deserts. When it dries, the wood forms a tube like stick with many elongated
holes. It's lines are quite beautiful. I started with a small piece of a
stick, which I filed and molded. By using this basic component, either in
wax or in metal, in different combinations, I can create endless and varied
jewelry pieces. I don't try to duplicate nature, I try to capture my impressions
of it's essence."
Ms. Sanchez has a BFA in Art Education with a minor in painting
and a MA with emphasis in metals, both from the University of Illinois in
Champaign-Urbana. She lives and works in her studio just north of Española,
NM with her husband and their two large dogs.
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